Rethinking Teaching in Higher Education

Citation

Flood, A. (2008), "Rethinking Teaching in Higher Education", Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 394-396. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880810906535

If one could write the shortest review I would write: “read this book.”

However, I owe it to the authors and the readers to expand on my emphatic endorsement of the book.

It could be because I see within the pages a collection of writings that are sympathetic with my own viewpoint on what it means to work in academic development.

The editors in their preface state boldly that they have written in a simple and non‐technical way to enable all readers to understand the processes and preparation required to engage in reflective practice. This is particularly pleasing to see as the idea of reflective practice takes on all sorts of connotations in the minds of many: ranging from navel gazing through to deep and meaningful active learning processes involving intense research and discussion about sources and resources for thinking and feeling and enacting new understandings.

This book is about the latter end of reflective practice. It is a exemplar of reflective practice from its inception. The editors write about the ways in which they viewed and reviewed the work they undertake with the academics, and in fact they state that more than a year of discussions took place before they could write with a singular voice. While I do not believe a group can write in a singular voice, they have indeed written in compatible ways to provide a strong cohesiveness to their discussion.

It is well‐designed and structured description of how to provide an environment conducive to reflection through meaningful dialogues and relevant and informative workshops. They suggest that the motivation for change lies in the intrinsic and extrinsic gains achieved through the participants' significant personal and professional investment (see p. 21).

In chapter 4, “Clarifying Learning”, Janet Donald engages the reader in ways in which the participants come to articulate learning outcomes that provide new understanding about learning. The chapter provides simple and clear tables that explore such things as using taxonomies of educational objectives to develop learning outcomes (p. 61). Table 4.4 (p. 63) “Working model of thinking processes in higher education” is an excellent collection of explanations that would assist most educators to understand how to incorporate different ways of thinking into their teaching.

The authors Amundsen, Winer, and Gandell turn their attention to developing ways of teaching to support encourage and motivate student learning. This is done in the continued telling of the workshops progression through a number of activities that are structured in a cohesive and developmental manner – the facilitators model good practice in the development and delivery of the workshops. They note the usual issues that arise when lecturers are asked to change and adapt; such as the inevitable inflexible work spaces, large group sizes and lack of resources however they suggest that:

Changing one's teaching requires careful consideration of the small steps that are most meaningful to both the professor and the students' learning (p. 77).

I think this is a very important point to make, and one that most people tend to dismiss or forget about. Too often facilitators forget to keep ideas of change in an achievable sequence of tasks, leaving the participants feeling that they need to change everything before the next class arises!

They also tackle a favourite of mine: that computers are not teaching strategies in themselves but rather they are enablers for learning in areas that once could not have been afforded similar support. In addition they suggest that students have ways and means of learning and have acquired habits that lecturers sometimes or often forget.

Table 5.1 (p. 84) provides a clear overview of instructional strategies that would assist lecturers understand how and why they might choose a particular strategy. This is followed by a discussion about coherence of evaluation and learning outcomes. The section refers to well known theorists such as Boud, Ramsden and Rowntree and highlights the interrelatedness between learning outcomes and content, instructional strategies and evaluation. A variety of major evaluation concepts are introduced and discussed, as well as introducing to the reader how they convey this information to participants undertaking the workshops.

This then leads to the final part of section 1 where the authors, Saroyan, Weston, McAlpine and Cowan focus on how classroom experience can be used formatively to improve teaching. They measure their workshop delivery against the teaching development model proposed by Centra in 1993 (p. 116) they use their own workshop as an exemplar of how to evaluate whether they have provided an environment and content conducive to enhancing change. Another measure they impose upon their own workshop are the principles of good teaching as provided by Chickering and Gamson (1991).

The second section of the book is dedicated to papers written by past participants. For example, Ralph Harris writes about the impact of the course design and teaching workshop on his slow evolution as a teacher. This is particularly strong writing as it provides the reader with a close and personal journey from PhD completion and commencing teacher to apprentice developer to the professional teacher whose voice is heard clearly stating that a lot of long term reflection about what works and does not work is required.

Myron J. Frankman writes about becoming the developer's apprentice and the challenges involved in learning a new “language” and mastery of new concepts. He suggests that the challenge of the educational developer is to bring the Institution to an active engagement with the best education available (p. 180).

To conclude in chapter 12, McAlpine and Saroyan tell us, while providing the ways in which they undertake the workshops, that they have elaborated on their philosophy and thinking about teaching and learning. However, they also emphasize that the workshop is only one facet of educational development and that it sits within a broader conceptual framework of development within the university. This final chapter outlines the approach taken and how it reflects and differs from other approaches. It provides a scenario that seems all too familiar however it also has its own particularities. This seems to be one of the essential characteristics of educational development; the contextualised nature and institutionally based drivers for changes in teaching and learning.

The appendices: a needs assessment, a reading list and finally suggestions for giving and receiving constructive criticism are all useful tools that can employed by any teacher or learner.

In conclusion, this book is highly readable, informative and engaging. Much of it seems to be well known information but the difference is that it has been contextualised within the provision of a workshop environment: something that most educational developers find themselves in many times across the learning year.

It is a good text to have on the shelf, when pondering: what to do, why do I do this and what can I do to change others' practice.